Dawn of the Drama: Season One
by Redoalien
Summary: In this strange town, many dramatic stories take place. Everyone must deal with the consequences of their own actions and sometimes, even those of others. Story strongly inspired by Reading10's very own Young and the Dramatic tales. He has given me permission to do this, as well.
1. Katie and Sadie Move to Their Apartment

Sadie smiled as she carried a large stack of cardboard boxes into her new apartment. She set them down in the corner by the rest of her stuff.

"Sadie?" she heard a muffled plead for help from the door. Sadie rushed to the door and opened it. Her best friend, Katie, was standing in the doorway, with another pile of boxes in her arms.

"Sorry, Katie," Sadie said guiltily. "I was so excited about moving, I forgot to leave the door open."

"Oh, that's okay," Katie waved it away. "I'm excited to. Now that we're living together, every night will be like a sleep-over!"

"Eeeee-" the girls had began to exclaim joyfully before there was a knock on the door.

* * *

Noah slowly walked down the hall to his apartment. He'd had a long day working at the movie theater. He opened the door slowly and set his jacket on the coat rack. He sat in his espresso leather chair.

"Phew," he sighed. "What a day."

Suddenly, his roomate walked in from the bathroom.

"You're home early," Cody said.

"Yeah," Noah said. "Somebody forgot to turn the popcorn machine off so we had to close the theater early so it could get cleaned-out."

"Oh," Cody replied. "Did you see that somebody's moved in down the hall yet?"

"Really?" Noah's face lit-up.

"They just arrived this morning," Cody said. "Maybe we should go welcome them."

* * *

Trent finished showering after his workout. Afterwards, he went to his locker and got a fresh pair of underwear on. He packed-up his gym bag. (he did this in that order because he could at least have some type of clothing on if somebody walked in while he was packing) Then he finished getting dressed. Trent left the gym and hopped into his truck.

"Ahh," Trent sighed as he drove out of the parking lot.

He was ready to go home and rest-up. He knew that the following day was going to be a busy one.

* * *

Sadie opened the door to see a tall freckeled brunette standing in the doorway.

"Oh," Katie said, who was peering from inside, shocked at the unfamiliar figure. "Hello."

"Hello," said Courtney. "My name is Courtney."

"Nice to meet you Courtney," Sadie said. "I'm Sadie and this is my roomate Katie."

"I noticed you guys moved into the apartment this morning and I wanted to see how you were doing." Courtney smiled.

"We're fine," Sadie said. "Thanks for asking."

"Why don't you come in and talk with us, Courtney?" Katie said.

"Sure," Courtney smiled, as she walked into the girls' apartment.


	2. Cody and Noah Visit Their New Neighbors

"You guys do have a nice apartment," Courtney said.

"Thanks," Sadie said. "It's still not ready yet. We need to unpack a few boxes from yesterday still."

"Why don't you come down to my apartment later this week and I'll show you it," Courtney said as she opened the door to leave.

"Really?!" Katie exclaimed.

"Totally," Courtney reassured her. "I don't have a lot going on this weekend and I haven't had any guests over in a while."

"Well, we'll try to make it," Katie said.

"Yeah," Sadie said. "We have a pretty busy schedule this week."

"Oh," Courtney replied. "Let me know if you can."

"We will," Sadie smiled and waved as Courtney left the apartment.

* * *

Trent sat down at the kitchen table and ate his breakfast: pancakes, toast, and a bagel with orange juice. He got up and put his dishes away after he was done. Suddenly, his cell phone rang out. His eyes widened a little and he immediately grabbed it from the table. He didn't need to look at the caller ID to know it was his girlfriend, Gwen.

"Hello," Trent answered.

"Hey," Gwen replied. "I'm already at the park. Almost ready?"

"Yeah," Trent said. "I'm going to leave once I get my jacket on."

"Okay," Gwen said. "I'll see you there."

"Sounds good," Trent said. "Later."

"Bye," Gwen said before Trent hung-up.

Trent sighed happily. He had put on his jacket and was ready to go meet Gwen for a romantic afternoon in the park.

* * *

"Cody, I don't think this is such a good idea," Noah said.

"We're just going to welcome the girls into the neighborhood," Cody said.

"You know how I feel about being too friendly." Noah said.

"Why is being friendly such a bad thing?" Cody asked.

"Because," Noah replied. "When you're too friendly with someone they think that you like them, then they begin to like you, and then you'll have a bunch of people talking to you that you really don't want to be with."

"Hey," said Katie who had just answered the door.

"Hi," Cody replied. "I'm Cody. Me and my buddy, Noah, wanted to come welcome you guys to the neighborhood."

"That's so nice of you," Katie replied. "My name is Katie, and over there's my BFF and roommate, Sadie.

"Hey," Sadie said. "You guys should come in and talk for a bit."

"I don't think tha-" Noah began before he was cut-off by Cody.

"Sure, we'd love to," Cody said.

* * *

Gwen checked her watch. She had been sitting on the park bench for over half an hour.

"Where is he," she wondered out loud and paused slightly. "Trent wouldn't 'flake' on me, would he?"

She pondered around in her mind for excuses of why he didn't come. She was dry out of them. But Gwen didn't have much time to think before she saw on old friend approaching her. A really close old 'friend'.

* * *

Meanwhile, Noah was beginning to warm up to the social interaction.

"Man, I don't think I've ever met anyone as joyful as you guys," Noah said.

"Yeah, things have been a little gloomy ever since DJ Mawson went missing," Cody replied.

"Wait, what?" said Katie.

"Who?" Sadie added-in.

Noah and Cody exchanged glances nervously.

"Oh, nothing," Cody waved it away.

"It's getting late," Noah said. "We'd better get going."

The two quickly got up from their chairs and rushed out of the apartment, leaving Katie and Sadie even more curious than Gwen had been.

* * *

Trent had actually been in a traffic jam this whole time. His phone battery had died. So he had no way of contacting Gwen. He had been making his way through the park to meet-up with Gwen.

"Well," Trent said to himself. "I made it. I just hope Gwen's not mad at me for running late."

Trent then saw something that shocked him.

"No," his jaw dropped.

Sitting on the edge of the park's fountain was Gwen, who was smiling while engaged in a conversation with her ex-boyfriend, Duncan.


	3. Trent Becomes Heartbroken

Trent walked into his apartment and slipped his jacket off. He didn't even bother to put it on the coat rack, and simply tossed it on the floor. He made his way over to the couch and fell onto it.

"Gwen," he muttered to himself. "How could you do this to me?"

* * *

Katie sat in her chair and looked at Sadie.

"What do you think Cody meant by that?" Katie asked her.

"I don't know," Sadie said. "But I'll bet was probably something big."

"Well we're going to find out," Katie stood up.

* * *

Duncan smiled at Gwen.

"Maybe I can go back to your place and we could hang out some more,"

"No," Gwen shook her head. "What if Trent stops by. We can't let him know about this."

"You're worried about him still?" Duncan asked.

"Yeah," Gwen shrugged. "I guess."

"Trust me," Duncan said. "You won't need to worry about him for a long time."

* * *

"Beth, can you take this food to that booth over there please?" said Courtney.

"Sure," Beth said, taking the tray from her co-worker.

Beth had been working at the diner for 3 months. She loved her job and Courtney, though she was strict at times, was surprisingly a very good friend.

Trent was sitting in a booth far in the back corner of the diner by himself. Beth could tell by his body language that something was wrong, so she went to go see him.

"Hey, Trent," Beth said.

"Oh," Trent looked up. "Hey, Beth."

"You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Trent said. "I guess I just need something to drink. How about a coffee?"

"I'll get that as soon as I can," Beth smiled.

"Thanks," Trent said.

* * *

"How do you plan on figuring it out?" Sadie asked.

"I'm not sure," Katie said. "We could ask Courtney if she knows anything about it when she gets home from work."

"Good idea," said Sadie. "But this was a major case. We can't really do it on our own, right?"

"Nobody said anything about being on our own," Katie grinned.

* * *

Cody knocked at the door.

"Come on, Trent!" he shouted. "Open up!"

"Any luck?" Courtney asked as she rounded the corner.

"Nope," Cody said. "He's not coming out of there."

"But I know who can get him out," Courtney smirked as she pulled out her phone.

"You don't mean-" Cody started.

"It's the only we can get him out of that room, Cody," Courtney said. "We have to get Gwen over here!


	4. Trent Confronts Gwen

"Courtney," Katie said. "We need to talk to you in private."

"Sure," said Courtney as she followed the girls back into their apartment and closed the door behind her. "What's up?"

"We were wondering if you had any information for us," Katie said.

Courtney raised an eyebrow.

"What can you tell us about DJ Mawson?" Sadie finished.

Courtney was drawn for words. All she could manage to let out was a gasp and repeat the name, "DJ Mawson?"

* * *

Beth was working the late shift that night at the Walk of Shame Diner. She was serving a few people in the booths when she finally reached the booth of one person in particular. She recognized him immediately.

"Harold?" she said. "What are you doing back in town?"

"I was in the neighborhood, and wanted to stop by and see how you were," Harold answered.

"Oh," Beth said. "I'm fine,"

"Good to hear that," Harold said.

"Well, I gotta go now," Beth said. "I need to get back to work."

As Beth began to turn around, Harold caught her.

"Beth," he said, handing her a slip of paper. "I was wondering if you were busy tomorrow night."

While Harold left the diner mysteriously, Beth rolled her eyes down to the paper and read all 7 of the digits.

* * *

Courtney closed her eyes for a couple of seconds then sighed as she fell back in the chair.

"It's been a long time since I heard that name," said the Type-A. "It was about 2 years ago when it happened. DJ was loved by everyone in town. He had been dating the popular and gorgeous Lindsay Chate at the time. Apparently, somebody was jealous of his constant kindness and popularity. Nobody knows exactly what happened or who did it, but he had gone missing over night. Eventually the police stopped the investigation after no progress was made. Nobody has seen him since."

"Woah," Sadie blinked.

"What about Lindsay?" Katie asked.

"Last I heard of her, she still lived in town," Courtney replied. "Nobody really sees her that often and news of her comes slow."

"Interesting," Katie tilted her head slightly. "Were there any good friends of DJ that we could speak with?"

"Well, there is Dawn Vailer," she continued. "But she spends most of her time out at her ranch a little ways outside of the town."

"Well Katie," Sadie said as they both grinned ear-to-ear. "We've got some traveling to do!"

"We'd better rest-up then," Katie said. "We didn't get much sleep our first night here so we need some extra sleep tonight."

* * *

Meanwhile, Cody had somehow gotten Trent to let him inside the apartment.

"Are you sure this is going to go well," Trent said.

"Totally," Cody lied. "I'm sure if you guys talk it over things will start to get better. It's probably all just a big misunderstanding."

"You're right," Trent admitted. "I'm sure that's it."

Suddenly 3 knocks on the door made the apartment go completely silent. Cody left to give them privacy but kept the door open for Gwen.

"Um hey," the goth smiled. "What's up?"

* * *

"I guess I'll see you guys later then," Courtney said to the girls.

"Later Courtney," Katie and Sadie said in unison.

Courtney left the apartment, and went to her apartment which was located just across the hall.

She sighed as she closed the door. She was glad to have some time to herself. But that didn't matter much to her right now.

"Those 2 have no idea what they're getting themselves into," Courtney said to herself. "What did I just do?"

It wasn't long afterwards that she was startled by the sound of glass shattering.


	5. Beth Discovers the Truth

Courtney picked up the rock that had flown through her window. There was a note tied to it.

She carefully slipped the paper out from the thread and read the contents of the message. She let out a gasp as she finished and backed up a little. She focused her attention towards the broken window, where cold night air had blown through.

* * *

The next morning, Gwen walked into the diner shyly.

"Gwen!" Beth called from the counter. Gwen sat down in one of the stools. "Hey."

"Hey, Beth," Gwen greeted.

"So, did it happen?" Beth asked. "Did you and Duncan finally do it?"

"No..." Gwen moaned.

"But I thought you said that you were going to," Beth said.

"Well, I did," Gwen admitted. "...just not with Duncan,"

"Wait," Beth said. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

* * *

"Hello," Dawn answered the door.

"Hey," Sadie said. "I'm Sadie and that's Katie. We're looking for Dawn Vailer."

"That's me," Dawn said. "What do you need?"

"We were wondering if we could talk to you for a second," Katie said.

"Sure," Dawn replied. "Come right in."

* * *

Anne Maria was suntanning on Aftermath Beach.

"Anne Maria?" said a familiar voice.

The tan-in-a-can opened one eye, followed up by her opening the other as she realized who they were.

"Woah," Anne Maria sat-up in her chair. "Is that really you?"

* * *

"I guess so," the goth replied. "I slept with Trent

"Seriously," Beth said in shock. "You mean Duncan doesn't know?"

"No," Gwen said.

"You have to break-up with him," Beth cried.

"I-I can't," Gwen said.

"Why not?" Beth asked.

"Because," Gwen answered slowly. "Duncan and I are engaged."

* * *

"I'm guessing you're hear to talk to me about DJ?" Dawn asked the girls as they sat on the couch with tea.

"How did you know?" Katie asked.

"I meditate every day," explained the moonchild. "I sensed something coming this way, and it had to do with DJ."

"Well, what do you know about him?" Katie said.

"We were practically best friends, DJ and I, all the way through high school," Dawn remembered. "He was the most like-able guy you could ever find there. It was on our senior year when it happened. DJ and I were going to the dance together. I don't remember what happened exactly. All I remember is someone was hurt, and DJ disappeared while the action was taking place."

"That's horrible," Sadie commented.

"We're so sorry to hear that, Dawn," Katie said. "Thanks for sharing that with us,"

"It's fine," Dawn lied. "I'll see you guys later,"

* * *

Anne Maria looked at the figure standing before her.

"Oh my god," she said. "It is you!"

"Miss me?" Sierra smiled.


	6. Katie Uncovers Another Secret

"You guys are-" Beth paused. "-engaged?"

"Yeah," Gwen said. "He proposed to me last night, before me and Trent, you know."

Beth understood and nodded. She was concerned for Gwen.

* * *

"Sierra!" asked Anne Maria. "It's been so long."

"I know, Anne!" Sierra said. "So what have you been up to?"

"Gee," Anne Maria said. "I don't know where to start!"

"Why don't you come over to my place later and we'll catch up there," suggested Sierra.

"Alright," Anne Maria said. "I'll see ya there."

* * *

The sun was about to set and the girls sat and their apartment.

"This doesn't add-up at all," Katie said. "Dawn said that she went to the dance with DJ..."

"...but Courtney said that DJ was dating Lindsay," Sadie finished.

"DJ couldn't have dated both at once," Katie said.

"True," Sadie agreed. "But what if Lindsay wasn't able to go to the dance. They could have just gone as friends."

"I'm not so sure," Katie said. "I thinks there's more to it than that."

* * *

"Enjoy the movie," Noah said as he handed the couple their tickets.

"Thanks Noah," Beth said as they walked into the theater.

They choose a spot towards the upper half of the theater.

Beth looked at her date smiling. "I'm so excited!"

"Me too," Harold smiled back as he put his arm around her.

* * *

"I think this whole trip was a waste of time," Sadie said. "We've gotten 2 different stories from 2 different people and we don't know either of them well enough to know if they're telling the truth."

"But if we hadn't gone on this trip we would've still thought Lindsay Chate was DJ's girlfriend," Katie reminded her. "We wouldn't have even thought about Dawn yet. And maybe we have a crime scene to investigate."

"You mean we have to go to wherever this dance took place?" Sadie asked.

"Exactly," Katie said. "After all, evidence doesn't lie."

* * *

The goth sighed. "Okay. You can do this, Gwen. Just tell him it's off and walk away."

Gwen felt more confident as she talked to herself.

Although, this was before the door was answered and she was standing face-to-face with Duncan.

"Duncan," Gwen rolled her eyes to the ground. "There's something I need to tell you."

* * *

"You still dating that charming latino?" Anne Maria asked. The two were now in Sierra's apartment.

"Nah," Sierra waved it away. "We broke-up a while ago. What about you and Zeke?"

"'Bout that," Anne Maria said. "We kinda grew apart when he ran off and got all feral-like."

"Oh," Sierra said in a somewhat disturbed tone. "I've finally got that lifeguard job I was applying for."

"Awesome!" Anne Maria exclaimed.

* * *

The girls' apartment was a loft: It had a double-room-size downstairs and upstairs. The upstairs had a series of rooms all connected to a main hallway. The apartment's extra space was extended the long way, meaning that it was basically two apartments back to back with two doors on each side that led to another hallway.

Katie was on the second floor where at the end of the hallway was a very mysterious and old looking door. She was curious of what was behind it. So she slowly approached the door very catiously.

When she reached the door, it had been closed tightly. She managed to pry the door away from the doorway and push it open enough to get in.

What Katie found inside was an old dusty attic filled with all sorts of junk. What suprised her most about the old room was something etched into the floorboards.

She had to lean over just to read the writing that had been engraved. But there was no doubt that it read: "MAWSON"


	7. Gwen Pays Duncan A Visit

Katie sat blinking at what she had found.

She was nervous and shocked to what she had just discovered.

"Maybe DJ has been here," Katie said to herself. "Sadie!"

* * *

"What," Duncan asked. "You're breaking up with me?"

"I am so sorry, Duncan," Gwen said. She meant it too.

"Why?" Duncan said.

"That's sort of complicated," Gwen nervously said.

"You can tell me anything babe," Duncan insisted.

Gwen sighed deeply.

"Alright," she said. "I never officially broke-up with Trent!"

"Oh," Duncan said. "At least you told me."

"Yeah," Gwen said. "I'll see ya around."

"Sounds cool," Duncan said. "Later."

Duncan closed the door and Gwen turned away, looking guilty as she hadn't told Duncan the full truth.

* * *

"What is it, Katie?" Sadie walked in and noticed what Katie had. "Oh my gosh! Is that-"

"Yeah," Katie said. "Looks so."

Katie looked-up at Sadie with a gleam in her wide and curious eyes.

"What do you think this means?" she said.

* * *

"Hey Cody," Trent answered the door. "Come on in."

"Alright," Cody said, putting his jacket on the coat rack. "You really need to clean this place a bit."

"Yeah," Trent said. "I know. I didn't really have time when Gwen came. Just slipped my mind."

"That reminds me," Cody realized. "How did that go... with you and Gwen?"

"Oh fine," Trent smiled. "I think we're actually back together again."

"And what about Duncan?" Cody added.

"Oh, I don't think we'll have to worry about him," Trent said. "That night was enough to convince me that Gwen and I are going to be okay."

"Uh Trent," Cody said.

"Yeah?" Trent raised an eyebrow.

"What exactly happened that night?" he said.

* * *

"Tonight was really great!" said Beth happily. She and Harold were sitting outside on a wooden bench on her front porch.

"I don't think I've had a better time with anyone else," Harold said in agreement, which caused Beth to blush a little.

Beth leaned into Harold, which at first he looked at her, but then accepted it and held her against him.

"The stars look amazing tonight," she said.

* * *

"It's not a coincidence," Katie assured her. "I think this was left here for us."

"By who? Why?" Sadie questioned.

"I don't know," Katie said. "But this town is bound to have some answers."

"You think we should go to where the dance was?" Sadie said.

"No. Not yet anyways," Katie said. "First we need to see if DJ's even still alive."

"That's a good idea," Sadie said. "I'll head over to Dawn's place and find out what's really going on, and you should see what you can find at the cemetery in the eastern part of town."

* * *

Beth and Harold were still on Beth's front porch.

"This really was a fun time," Beth said again.

"I know," Harold said. He leaned in and gave her a kiss. "We should do this again sometime."

He left Beth on the porch, clearly shocked at what had happened.


End file.
